Mail-bag catcher.



J. RAUGSTAD,

MAIL BAG GATOHBR. APPLICATION I'ILEDSEPT. 19, 1903. RENEWED NOV. 4,1909. 958,537. Patented May 17, 1910.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

' 119i tn uses ANDREW B. GRAHA c0 Puoru-umocmwzns, WASHINGTON. u I;

J. RAUGSTAD.

I MAIL BAG GATOHER. APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 19, 1908. RENEWED NOV. 4,1909.

958,537. Patented May 17, 1910,

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Fi E I? 9' Z L l I l, WW :Tr i w |I WW:- m L---) Q] F '/7 /0 H6 '7animator vihwoau I 7" (I I v Wotan JOHN RAUGSTAD, OF GRASSRANGE,MONTANA.

MAIL-BAG CATGHER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented May 1'7, 1910.

Application filed September 19, 1908, Serial No. 453,787. RenewedNovember 4, 1909. Serial No. 526,296.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN Rnucs'rxn, a citizen of the United States,residing at Grassrange, in the county of Fergus, State of Montana, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Mail-Bag Catchers; and Ido hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The present invention relates to improvements in mail-bag catchers, andit has for its principal object the production of an exceedingly simpleand efficient catching mechanism including an automatically-operatedlocking lever adapted to hold a mailbag delivered to the catcher againstremoval therefrom.

To this end, the catcher, briefly described, comprises a metal barformed at its forward end with a air of diverging arms, to the inner ofwhich is pivoted an angular looking lever, one arm of the leverextending across the space between the catcher arms in position toreceive thereagainst the impact of the transferred mailbag, the impetusof the blow being sufficient to swing the lever upon its pivot and causeits other arm to lock the mail-bag against displacement from between thecatcher arms.

The preferred embodiment of the invention is illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, in which corresponding parts are designated bythe same reference numerals throughout the several views.

Of the said drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view of the completeinvention, the.

catcher and its lever being shown in opera tive position. Fig. 2 is anenlarged detail plan view of the head of the catcher, the lever beingshown in its inoperative position. Fig. 3 is a similar view with thecover plate removed, to illustrate the spring catch. Fig. 4 is a viewsimilar to Fig. 3, the lever being shown in its operative position. Fig.5 is a fragmental edge view of the outer arm of the catcher.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, 1 designates, generally,the mail-car, 2 the door opening formed in one of the sides thereof, and3 the transversely-disposed shaft, whose ends are journaled in bracketbearings secured to the side walls of the door opening, said shaft beingrotated by means of the handle 4 with which it is provided. To thisshaft is secured the rear end of a metal bar 5, which extends forwardlyat an angle to the shaft and is movable through the door opening intoand out of operative position. At its front end, the bar is flattenedand widened transversely and is formed with a pair of diverging arms 6and- 7 which occupy a common plane, the outer arm having a greaterlength than the inner arm. These arms are likewise widened toward theirrear ends, this construction resulting in the formation of a constrictedmouth 8 which leads to the seat 9, formed 1 between the extreme rearends of the arms.

The fiattenedforward end of the bar has a portion of its upper face cutaway to provide a seat 10 in which the angular locking lever,hereinafter described, works, the seat being continued forwardly alongthe upper faces of the arms 6 and 7 which latter form a catcher properor catcher head, as will be understood.

The lever above referred to, comprises two arms 11 and 12 set at anangle to each other, the arm 11 being arcuate, while the other arm 12 isstraight. The lever is pivoted to the catcher head by a bolt 13, whichfastens through its arm 12 and through the catcher arm 6, adjacent therear or inner ends of said arms. In its normal or operative position,the lever has its straight arm 12 extending forwardly at an angle acrossthe seat 9 in position to be struck by the mailbag removed by thecatcher from the mechanism (not shown) at the receiving station, saidlever being held in such position by means of a retractile coil spring14. which is secured at its forward end to the apex of the lever and atits rear end to the bar 5. In the above described position of the lever,the free outer end of its curved arm 11 contacts with a curved shoulder15 formed at the forward end of the left hand extension of the seat 10,i. 6., the extension of said seat across the arm 6. In like manner, thefree end of the arm 12 contacts with a V- shaped shoulder 16 formed atthe end of the right hand extension of said seat, the formation of theshoulders 15 and 16 limiting the swinging movement of the lever underthe tension of the spring 1 The bottom wall of the right hand seatextension has attached thereto a spring catch 17, across which the leverarm 12 rides during the actuation of the lever by the impact of themail-bag thereagainst, as hereinafter described. This catch is formed bya single strip of .wire which is disposed longitudinally of the arm 7,the bent rear end of the catch extending through the perforation formedin said arm, as shown in Fig. 5. The rear wall 18 of the seat forms ashoulder against which the arm 12 of the lever is arranged to contactwhen struck by the mailbag.

In the operation of the invention, it will be apparent that when the carpasses the receiving station, the catcher will remove the bag from thecrane, the bag passing between the catcher arms 6 and 7 and through themouth 8 against the forward edge of the lever arm 12. struck by themail-bag is sufiicient to swing the lever upon its pivot, the arm 12riding across the catch 17 which latter is depressed, during the passageof said arm thereacross. The catch will move upwardly as soon as thelever arm has passed therebeyond and will thus hold the lever againstreturn movement. Owing, however, to the arcuate formation of the arm 11,the latter will move across the mouth 8 when the lever is actuated, andthus close the entrance to the seat 9 in which the mail-bag has beenreceived.

The spring 1 1 is provided not only for the purpose of holding the levernormally in operative position, but also for the purpose of absorbingthe greater part of the shock incidental to the impact of the mailbagagainst the lever arm 12, the tension of the spring being suflicient toprevent said arm from contacting violently with the shoulder 18.

The head of the catcher which, as stated, is formed by the arms 6 and 7,has attached thereto a cover plate 19, which is likewise formed with apair of arms which follow the contour of the catcher arms, but terminateshort of the ends thereof. The cover plate serves to hold the leveragainst upward movement, and also to prevent injury to the spring catch,over which latter, its left hand end extends.

IVhat is claimed is:

The impetus of the blow.

1. A mail-bag catcher, comprising a bar having its front end flattenedand formed with a pair of forwardly-extending diverg ing arms, the upperfaces of said arms and of the adjacent portion of the bar having a seatformed therein; a pivoted locking lever working in said seat andarrangedto be operated by the impact of a mail-bag thereagainst; means fornormally holding the lever in operative position; and a plate secured tosaid bar and arranged to cover said seat.

2. A mail-bag catcher comprising a bar having the forward end thereofflattened and formed with a pair of diverging arms, the upper faces ofsaid arms and of the adjacent portion of said bar having a seat formedtherein; the pivoted lever working in said seat and consisting of animpact arm and a locking arm, the first-mentioned arm extending in itsoperative position across the space between the catcher arms, inposition to be struck by a mailbag delivered to the catcher; means fornormally holding the lever in operative position; and a plate arrangedto cover said seat.

3. A mail-bag catcher comprising a bar having its front end flattenedand formed with a pair of forwardly-extending diverging arms, the upperfaces of said arms and of the adjacent portion of said bar being formedwith a seat; a pivoted lever working in said seat and consisting of astraight impact arm and an arcuate locking arm, the first mentioned armextending in its operative position across the space between the catcherarms in position to be struck by a mail-bag delivered to the catcher;means for holding the lever normally in operative position; a springcatch located adjacent the impact arm, for holding the lever againstreturn movement after its operation; and a plate arranged to cover saidseat.

In testimony whereof, I affix my signature, in presence of twowitnesses.

JOHN RAUGSTAD.

Witnesses:

CARL O. OLSEN, CHRIST SATHER.

